US farmer visits Illawarra to warn of coal seam gas danger

John Fenton has 24 unconventional gas wells on his property in Wyoming and says they've rendered his drinking water unusable.

"We don't own the mineral rights to our land so it was impossible to keep the [gas] companies from coming on our land and drilling," he says.

"The mineral company bought the lease and then they have the right to extract the minerals, and those rights supersede the surface rights."

He says those gas wells have caused methane contamination to the point where the Centre for Disease Control told him not to drink or cook with his ground water, and aerate the house if it's used for clothes washing or showing.

He says coal seam gas mining has ruined his 'piece of heaven on Earth'.

"It was a great place, it was a really remote rural area where we raised cattle and our family and it was a place we were proud of and we felt special to be the stewards of the land there."

He'll speak at a public meeting in Thirroul this Sunday to tell his story.

The Illawarra has been earmarked for coal seam gas mining and is home to a prominent lobby group that is trying to stop it.

Mr Fenton says in the US, a mining company can negotiate with a landholder to start fracking, but if that doesn't work out, they can post a $2000 bond and come on to the property to start drilling.

He says it leaves landholders with no recourse to prevent any damages to their property.

"Two thousand dollars to this industry is like us spending $4 on a cup of coffee.

"We don't get any royalties - there's an initial small fee paid [to us] for the disturbance of the land and in some locations we receive a small annual lease payment, which is $2000 or less."

He believes contamination of drinking water in his area is leading to health complications like neurological defects, seizures, chronic fatigue, hair loss and nose bleeds, and wants to see an independent study into what's causing it.

As it stands, he says the US government is in charge of the study and they receive significant royalties from coal seam gas extraction.

"The thing that's been our saving grace is the water we use for agricultural production is snow melt run off," John says.

"We irrigate with surface water but the ground water has had health impacts in the community."

He says the coal seam gas industry has admitted there is a 6% immediate failure rate in the structural integrity of the well casings that separate coal seam gas from water aquifers and over a 30 year period that increases to 60%.